text:
Resident Evil 6 shambles forth this week, a stitched-together monstrosity that bears no small resemblance to the original walking dead, Frankenstein's monster. Capcom's latest is a patchwork assemblage of disconnected ideas and poorly executed gameplay, all of it tied together by a flimsy narrative thread that threatens to snap at any moment beneath the weight of the series' amassed fiction.
There are a few moments of fan-leaning joy to be found, but they're just fleeting chunks of gameplay that nod back to the Resident Evil games of old before giving way to some ridiculously out of place stealth challenge or driving sequence. From a fan's perspective, it's a downright heartbreaking disgrace to Resident Evil 4, the high note that was the series' last game with creator Shinji Mikami.
Resident Evil 6 makes as compelling a case for a series reboot as I've ever seen.
Four flavors of fear, four meandering plotlines
Capcom at least makes an effort to formulate a new approach to Resident Evil gaming in this sixth numbered release. Breaking the larger story down into four separate campaigns, complete with potentially co-op-driven crossover moments, is a cool idea. The execution leaves a lot to be desired, however.
The three main campaigns that you can choose from at the start of the game are all meant to offer stylistically different takes on the series' well-established brand of survival horror. The Leon/Helena section nods heavily to the earliest Resident Evil games, with a slower pace and a more deliberate doling out of the "scare" moments (a term used very loosely here). The Chris/Piers section leans more toward the action focus of RE5 while the Jake/Sherry campaign seems to specifically channel RE3's Nemesis.
That's how it works in theory, at any rate. Each of the three campaigns starts out on roughly the right path. You creep through dark, silent corridors as Leon/Helena, face insurmountable odds as Chris/Piers, and flee constantly from an unstoppable force as Jake/Sherry. The flaws in this design become increasingly apparent with progress, however, as each campaign eventually makes a jarring shift to pure, out-and-out action.
It's the fourth, unlockable campaign, starring Ada Wong, that feels the most classically "Resident Evil." You're alone. You're outnumbered. Your weapons are relatively ineffective and your resources are limited. RE6 never manages to capture the prototypical survival-horror need for careful resource management, but it comes the closest with Ada. Her story only unlocks after the other three campaigns have been completed, however, and just getting that far is asking a lot from the player.
Then there's the overarching narrative, which amounts to a jumbled mass of series lore that has been stitched into an occasionally coherent plot. It's a shame too, since the writing and voice acting in each of the campaigns is actually commendable. You might not know what a C-Virus is or why Umbrella means bad things, but the moment-to-moment relaying of basic facts is handled well. Even if you don't invest in any of these characters, you'll at least understand why they're doing what they're doing.
Why play when you can just mash a bunch of buttons?
Who cares about the story, you say. This is a video game. How does it play? Poorly, I say. It's still fundamentally Resident Evil. The camera sticks tight on the player-controlled character, peering over his or her shoulder to create an intentionally limited field of view. The controls pick up where RE5 left off, handling similarly but adding the ability to move and shoot at the same time.
I'll trot out a bit more praise here: when the action ramps up, RE6 effectively manages to channel some of the best moments of its immediate predecessor. It might not be "classic" Resident Evil, but running around while blasting an assortment of bio-engineered monstrosities in their ugly faces continues to be fun. True, you can have that sort of fun in any number of other games, but the general feel and spirit of the series is definitely captured the best in these sections.
Those moments are unfortunately few and far between, though. Capcom doesn't really seem to have a grasp on what Resident Evil is or should be anymore, and RE6 has a little bit of everything as a result. Do you like sneaking around quietly? Driving snowmobiles? Shooting things from the relative safety of a turret? It's all there in a dizzying shower of disparate ideas, alongside a raft of infuriating quick time events.
Oh yes, you will mash buttons in response to blatant on-screen prompts in Resident Evil 6. All the buttons. Thumbsticks too. And you'll have to try many of these button-mashing events more than once, most likely. Even when you see a quick time event coming, the response window for each prompt too often closes before your brain can recognize the onscreen icon and transmit that information to your fingers. This is most infuriating in the context of boss fights, since failure often results in a Game Over screen.
This also speaks to a larger problem that Resident Evil 6 has: it fails over and over to provide players with enough information to figure out what needs to be done. You might think that you have to shoot at the rampaging monster that's tearing apart your in-flight helicopter from the outside, but in actuality you simply have to survive an invisible timer. If you had known that, you might have also put a bit more effort into conserving ammunition and, in doing so, avoided the Game Over screen that popped up in the next section when you were asked to shoot a fuel tank with your empty clip.
Beyond the campaigns, you've also got Agent Hunt and Mercenaries modes to mess around with. Mercenaries is nothing new; you run around, scoring kills/combos and racking up points as you race against a clock. I only spent a little bit of time in Agent Hunt during the pre-release period; it seems like a fun novelty, but the controls for the bio-organic weapon enemies sucked all the fun out of it for me.
There's also additional replay value in Resident Evil 6's skill system, which sees players earning points through campaign play that can be spent on boosts like improved firearm/melee power, increased item drops, infinite ammo, and the like. Similar features in RE4 and RE5 effectively transformed those games during subsequent playthroughs, but the pacing in each hour-long chapter is so out of whack that it's hard to get excited about jumping back into any of them.
A failure of epic proportions, and perhaps the end of an era
Capcom fumbled badly here, perhaps even to the point that the Resident Evil franchise as we've come to know it is effectively finished. Maybe that's a good thing, though. The game may be a mess, but it also serves to highlight what Resident Evil should not be. I'd like to believe that we've reached a breaking point, and that Capcom will have to rebuild from scratch going forward.
That doesn't help in the here and now, however. Resident Evil 6 is a spectacular failure on nearly every level. The best thing I can say is that the moment-to-moment beats of each campaign are at least coherent and that the action occasionally—very occasionally—leans toward the sort of gameplay we've come to expect from the series in this post-RE4 world. It's a messy and unenjoyable experience though, and it should be avoided by anyone who feels a fan connection to the series.
The Good:
- Each campaign's plot is easy to follow if you overlook the frequent nods back to Resident Evil lore.
- A few brief sections effectively capture the spirit of the series and what makes it fun.
The Bad:
- You're fighting with poor controls and a wildly swinging camera as frequently as you're fighting enemies.
- Each campaign loses focus over time, eventually falling back on straightforward action.
- Bafflingly short response windows for the abundance of quick time events.
- The series' identity is lost in the wash of a wide mix of misplaced gameplay styles.
The Ugly:
- The fact that millions will no doubt buy this clunker on name recognition alone.
Verdict: Skip it.


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The trial of George Zimmerman, accused of fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, inevitably and quickly devolved into a contest of who is more racist — the victim or the accused?
The question was inevitable because the prosecution is basing its case largely on the suggestion that Zimmerman profiled the 17-year-old African-American.
This assumption was somewhat complicated last week during testimony by 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel, a friend of Martin's who was talking to him by cellphone shortly before he was shot. Sidebar: Poor Jeantel. Whether she is a credible witness will be determined by the jury, but the rest of us really ought to cut the girl some slack. She is young, obviously playing on alien turf and having a tough-enough time on the witness stand without further commentary. She may, indeed, be the best argument yet for keeping cameras out of the courtroom, but that is another discussion.
Jeantel's contribution to the race discussion included a quote she attributed to Martin when he told her a "creepy-ass cracker" was watching him. No doubt Zimmerman did seem creepy. He was following Martin after all, who, as far as anyone knows with certainty, was merely walking home from a convenience store. Does Martin's use of "cracker" mean he was a racist and, therefore, may have instigated the struggle that, according to the defense, compelled Zimmerman to shoot Martin in self-defense?
Jeantel told defense attorney Don "Knock-Knock" West that, no, she doesn't consider "cracker" a racist term. Apparently, most whites don't either. In street interviews, CNN found that whites are not as offended by the term "cracker" as they are by the N-word.
For the record, there's no evidence that Zimmerman ever used the N-word. He is captured on tape saying "F — ing punks" and "These a — holes, they always get away." Is he talking about blacks? Teens wearing hoods? Burglars, some number of whom recently had been targeting his neighborhood? Only conjecture produces a strictly racist interpretation.
So what about "cracker?" Is it ever or always an insult? And what might we infer by Martin's use of it to describe his pursuer?
Merriam-Webster defines cracker as: usually disparaging: a poor usually Southern white; capitalized: a native or resident of Florida or Georgia — used as a nickname.
But the best explanation of crackers can be found in "The Cracker Kitchen," a cookbook and story collection by novelist and proud cracker Janis Owens. It is both a cultural defense and literary critique of the poor, white folks whence Owens (and most of us Scots-Irish) came — an unfrilly valentine pressed between recipes for fried frog legs and baked armadillo. The daughter of a fire-breathing Pentecostal preacher, Owens traces "cracker" to William Shakespeare's "The Life and Death of King John:" "What cracker is this same that deafe our eares with this abundance of superfluous breath?"
Now there's an invective worth memorizing for future hurling.
Native-born to Florida's panhandle, aka Alabama's Riviera, Owens has embraced her crackerhood and uses the term endearingly, just as African-Americans often use the N-word, recovered from racist whites, to refer to one another. Similarly, Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" includes a chapter celebrating the C-word, effectively stealing it back from those who use it to denigrate women. Reclaiming ownership of an offensive word is a revolutionary act that strips the term of its power to wound. Call it linguistic disarmament.
For those needing a refresher course, here are just a few reasons why cracker doesn't compare to the N-word. Cracker has never been used routinely to:
Need more? Didn't think so.
Cracker may be a pejorative in some circles. It may even be used to insult a white person. But it clearly lacks the grievous, historical freight of the other.
Martin's use of the term "cracker" doesn't make him a racist any more than Zimmerman's resentment of "punks" necessarily makes him a murderous racial profiler. These words, and the case built upon them, ultimately may prove little more than an abundance of superfluous breath.
Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist. Conact her at firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tis the season for the entertainment industry to have awards shows and our very own "Indie Intertube" Live Web TV Talk show is included. They have just announced their nominees for their 2nd Annual Indie Intertube Awards honoring independent web series creators.
The nominees are listed below and even include our very own producer, JD's pilot, Hero Treatment, so we're even more excited to see who the winners are.
Be sure to tune in for the LIVE stream on March 11th on Mingle Media TV where you can interact with the hosts and other members of the chat room on the Indie Intertube show. Watch on your smart phone, tablet, laptop, desktop or TV – here on MMTVN or get the FREE Stickam app and watch on the go.
Congratulations to this year's nominees!
Best Editing
Robb Padgett – Vampire Zombie Werewolf Show
Jason Leaver – Out With Dad
Sean Becker – The Guild
Tai Fauci – Whole Day Down
Chris Stone – Blood and Bone China
Barry Dodd – Ragged Isle
Alex D'Lerma, Dexter Adriano & Belti Rivera – Yu Solve
Tim Donahue & Aaron Sherry – Video Game Reunion
Nate Locklear – Once You Leave
Scott Klein – Haywire
Best Theme Music
Robb Padgett – Vampire Zombie Werewolf Show
Barry Dodd – Ragged Isle
Chad Cox – Throwing Stone
Minibosses – Video Game Reunion
Benoit Babin – Heroes of the North
Robb Gokee – Night of the Zombie King
Don Schiff – The Guild
Best Looking Show (Cinematography)
Christopher Charles Kempinski – Divine the Series
Barry Dodd & Derek Kimball – Ragged Isle
Chris Stone – Blood and Bone China
Sam King – Danger 5
Nate Locklear – Once You Leave
Geoff Bland – Clutch
John S. Bartley – Dragon Age Redemption
Joost van Starrenburg – RCVR
Regina Bartholomeu – Vacationlanders
Al Galvez & Ricardo Jacuques Gale – The Passenger
Best Guest Appearance
VZW Crew from Meet the Mayfarers
Erin Gray – The Guild
Mark Gantt – Leap Year
Martha Bryne – Anacostia
Felicia Day – Chronicles of Humanity
Paul Adelstein – Bandwagon
Genie Francis – Pretty the Series
Best Credit Sequence
Throwing Stones
Girl Parts
Divine the Series
Death's Door
Blood and Bone China
Leap Year
Vampire Zombie Werewolf Show
Ragged Isle
Best Practical Make-Up Effects
Divine the Series
Dragon Age Redemption
Elfquest: A Fan Imagining
Throwing Stones
The Funny Man
Standard Action
Immoral Dr. Dicqer
The Passenger
Best Digital Effects
Aidan 5
Once Upon
Mortal Kombat Legacy
End Result
Immoral Dr. Dicqer
Quest Chronicles
Best Set Design
Blood and Bone China
Dragon Age Redemption
Danger 5
Night of the Zombie King
Mind My Brain's Darling
Divine the Series
Border Guardians of Ackernon
Best Sound Design
Blood and Bone China
Divine the Series
Once You Leave
Danger 5
Aidan 5
Hitman 101
Best Original Score
Marc Alexandre – Hitman 101
Rob Gokee – Night of the Zombie King
Robb Padgett – Vampire Zombie Werewolf Show
Pat Tuckey – Standard Action
Al Galvez – The Passenger
Best Original Soundtrack
Miss Behave
Once You Leave
Out With Dad
Venice the Series
The Passenger
Black Box TV
Best Trailer
Viva Berlin!
The Adventures of Mighty Woman
Elfquest: A Fan Imagining
Best Dressed (Best Costumes)
Border Guardians of Ackernon
Dragon Age Redemption
Standard Action
Walking in Circles
Blood and Bone China
Miss Behave
Pretty the Series
Video Game Reunion
Best Sidekick
Karri Bowman as Tubie – Bandwagon
Sheilynn Wactor as Chandelier – Bandwagon
Michael Taylor Gray as Royce Adams – Pretty the Series
Vince Lozano as Detective Anthony Kazantzakis – Yu Solve
Paul Higgins and Edward Higgins as Jeremy Worthington – Mind My Brains, Darling!
Jason Burns as PHAL 9000 – Solo the Series
Corey Lof as Kenny – Out With Dad
Best Theme Song
"Goodbye Happiness" by Birthrite – Blood and Bone China
"Young Hollywood" by More Amor – Bandwagon
"Gumdrop the Unicorn" by Bret Silverman – Pretty the Series
"Walking in Circles Again" by Jonah Priour – Walking In Circles
"Fumbling thru the Pieces" by Donna Hurst – Fumbling Thru the Pieces
"JF Sebastian" by Ladydoll – Girl Parts
"Venice Beach" by Jen Foster – Venice the Series
Best Writing in a Soap Opera
Michael Caruso – DeVanity
Caryn K. Hayes – Breaking Point
Quincy Morris – Inbetween Men
Susan Bernhardt & Francis Gilbert – Miss Behave
Anthony Anderson – Anacostia
Tucky Williams – Girl/Girl Scene
Stewart St. John – California Heaven
Best Directing in a Soap Opera
Kelley Portier –DeVanity
Forrest Naylor – Sundays
Jennifer Gelfer – Inbetween Men
Eric Butts – Girl/Girl Scene
Jon Zimmerman & Patrika Darbo – Miss Behave
Anthony Anderson – Anacostia
Caryn K. Hayes – Breaking Point
Most Socially Connected
Vampire Mob
Black Box TV
The Guild
Venice the Series
Best Transmedia Project
Apocalypse Diaries
Once You Leave
Yu Solve
Heroes of the North
Best Actress in a Comedy
Stacy McQueen – Pretty the Series
Emma Caulfield – Bandwagon
Jo Bozarth – The Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros
Kelsey Robinson – Girl Parts
Julie Ann Emery – Then We Got Help
Joanna Gaskell – Standard Action
Renee Olbert – Seeking Simone
Best Actor in a Comedy
Steve Lekowicz – Vampire Zombie Werewolf Show
Same Pancake – Pretty the Series
Yuri Baranovsky – Leap Year
Jonathan Nail – Solo the Series
Josh Heine – The Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros
Britain Spellings – Video Game Reunion
Amol Shah – Time for Passion
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Dee Freeman – Pretty the Series
Karri Bowman – Bandwagon
Diane Delano – Fumbling Thru the Pieces
Elisa Donovan – Whole Day Down
Tonya Kay – Video Game Reunion
Kirsten Vangsness – Pretty the Series
Sheilynn Wactor – Bandwagon
Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Woody Tondorff – Video Game Reunion
Michael Taylor Gray – Pretty the Series
Jim Cashman – Bandwagon
Joel Bryant – Suck & Moan
Brendan Bradley – Pretty the Series
Jonah Priour – Walking in Circles
Mathew Montgomery – Girl Parts
Best Writing in a Comedy
Steve Silverman – Pretty the Series
Camilla Rantsen & Karri Bowman – Bandwagon the Series
Julie Ann Emery – Then We Got Help
Jessica Mills – Awkward Embraces
Tony Clomax – 12 Steps to Recovery
Brendan Bradley, Tim Donahue, Mathew Lewis & Aaron Sherry – Video Game Reunion
Joanna Gaskell – Standard Action
Best Directing in a Comedy
Karri Bowman & Ahmed Best- Bandwagon
Steve Silverman – Pretty the Series
Julie Smith – Fumbling Thru the Pieces
Yuri Baranovsky – Leap Year
Rob Hunt – Standard Action
Dario Russo – Danger 5
Sean Becker – The Guild
Best Ensemble Cast in a Comedy
Standard Action
Leap Year
Fumbling Thru The Pieces
Video Game Reunion
Walking in Circles
Danger 5
Pretty the Series
Then We Got Help
The Guild
Best Additional Content
The Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros
Out With Dad
Heroes of the North
Black Box TV
Once You Leave
Vampire Zombie Werewolf Show
Best Actor in a Drama
Brian Michael Block – Aidan 5
Daniel Bonjour – RCVR
Anthony Miles – Blood and Bone China
Al Galvez – The Passenger
Will Conlon – Out With Dad
Maxwell Glick – We Break Hearts
Ben Hollingsworth – Divine the Series
Best Actress in a Drama
Maya Sayre – Aidan 5
Kayla Olsen – Once You Leave
Jillian Claire – Miss Behave
Rachel Hip-Flores – Good People in Love
Daryn Strauss – Downsized
Melanie Merkosky – Contiuum
Alexis Zibolis – DeVanity
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
Steven Alexander – Good People in Love
Rick Dalton – Ragged Isle
Michael Teh – Breaking Point
Alan Sawkins – Divine the Series
Mike Dirkson – DeVanity
Garrett Ryan – RCVR
John James Woodard – Blood and Bone China
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
Renee Olbert – Good People in Love
Crystal Coney – Breaking Point
Pasha Diallo – Anacostia
Rachel Shenton – Blood and Bone China
Cherami Leigh – Throwing Stones
Stephanie Thorpe – Night of the Zombie King
Marcia Battise – Dragon Age Redemption
Best Writing in a Drama
Tim Baldwin, Ben Bayes, John Jackson, Vidas Barzdukas & Brian Michael Block – Aidan 5
Stephanie Cooper & Chris Stone – Blood and Bone China
Rick Dalton, Barry Dodd, Karen Dodd, Jacob Lear & Greg Tulonen – Ragged Isle
Tina Cesa Ward – Good People in Love
Daryn Strauss – Downsized
Nate Locklear – Once You Leave
Jason Leaver – Out With Dad
Best Directing in a Drama
Chris Stone – Blood and Bone China
David van Eyssen – RCVR
John Jackson & Ben Bayes – Aidan 5
Ivan Hayden – Divine the Series
Nate Locklear – Once You Leave
Tina Cesa Ward – Good People in Love
Daryn Strauss – Downsized
Best Ensemble Cast in a Drama
Ragged Isle
Breaking Point
Dragon Age Redemption
Out With Dad
In The Rough
Divine the Series
Mind's Eye
Smexiest Actor
Woody Tondorff
Brendan Brandley
Dingani Beza
Joel Bryant
Brian Michael Block
Michael Caruso
Robb Padgett
Smexiest Actress
Alexis Boozer
Emma Caulfield
Felicia Day
Jo Bozarth
Taryn O'Neil
Stacy McQueen
Kelsey Robinson
Best Breakout Performance
Kayla Olson – Once You Leave
Lynn Wactor – Bandwagon
Lewis Brindley – Blood and Bone China
Katie Caprio – DeVanity
April Joy Pruinton – Ragged Isle
Steven Quartell – Thurston
Anthony Anderson – Anacostia
Best Web Series Pilot
I Kill Monsters
Family Curse
Champion Road
Turning A Prophet
Hero Treatment
Best Animated
Force of Fate
Sketch 22
Cliff Notes
Grim Endings
Red vs. Blue
Chronicles of Humanity
Frontier: Prelude to Darkness
Best Variety/Sketch Comedy
Invention with Brian Forbes
Jenneral Assembly
Daily Grace
How to Annoy People
Key of Awesome
Best Thriller
Ragged Isle
Black Box TV
Yu Solve
We Break Hearts
Death's Door
Apocalypse Diaries
Best Scifi/Fantasy
Border Guardians of Ackernon
Dragon Age: Redemption
The Passenger
Mind's Eye
Best Action
Hitman 101
End Result
Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Heroes of the North
Aidan 5
Fallout: Nuka Break
Best Horror
The Funny Man
Blood and Bone China
The Dead Hour
Divine the Series
Throwing Stones
Best Soap Opera
Miss Behave
Breaking Point
InBetween Men
Girl/Girl Scene
Best Dramedy
Fumbling Thru the Pieces
Leap Year
Vampire Mob
The Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros
Awkward Embraces
In The Rough
Best Comedy
Pretty the Series
Standard Action
Girl Parts
Video Game Reunion
Then We Got Help!
Danger 5
Best Drama
Out With Dad
Once You Leave
Good People in Love
Anyone But Me
Night of the Zombie King
Audience Choice Award
to be announced LIVE during the awards
Innovation Award
to be announced LIVE during the awards
Best Webseries of 2011
to be announced LIVE during the awards
Follow Indie Intertube on Twitter @Indie_Intertube or on Facebook
Watch Indie Intertube LIVE on Sunday nights 8 PM ET here http://www.minglemediatv.com/IndieIntertube.html.
Read more: Nominees for the 2nd Annual Indie Intertube Awards | Indie Intertube http://indieintertube.tv/static/nominees-for-the-2nd-annual-indie-intertube-awards/#ixzz1nPdoRHwp
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F1F Xbox 360 World Championship – Season 4: Season completed
- This topic has 689 replies, 28 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 7 months ago by MadDogMolloy.
10th April 2013, 22:06 at 10:06 pm #132993
If you have a copy of F1 2012, an Xbox 360 to play it on and an Xbox Live subscription then you have come to the right place! This is Season 4 of the critically acclaimed F1F XBOX 360 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!
We currently have a great group of drivers who race cleanly and fairly. The first three seasons of this online championship have seen exciting closely fought racing, full of thrills, spills, tears and triumph. There have been some amazing moments and we've had a lot of fun too – I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Monday evening! :-)
Want to be part of this championship? We race on Monday evenings where invites are sent around 8.20pm (BST). Qualifying starts at 8.30pm (BST). The First race starts on Monday 22 April 2013.
Take a look at our wiki page for information on the rules, the race calendar and the team vacancies still available.
If you would like to see how the previous seasons have worked, please check out our forums for Season 1, 2 and 3
Here are some videos posted by our drivers from the past three seasons.
Once all the drivers from the previous season have been designated seats, any remaining will be available for you to choose on a first come, first serve basis.
Please post indicating your top 3 preferences for which team you'd like to drive for (in order of most preferred to least preferred). To see the seats still available, please take a look at our wiki page http://f1fanatic.wikia.com/wiki/F1F_Xbox_360_World_Championship_-_Season_4
Please also include your Xbox gamertag.
Can't make it every week? Not a problem! Every driver will have to drop their 5 lowest scores (if they have attended every race or not), so you can afford to miss 5 races and you wouldn't lose out all that much. This is used to ensure that drivers aren't unfairly disadvantaged in the championship standings if they miss a few races. More information on this (and all the other rules) is provided on our wiki page.
Returning Drivers
We will use the same method as last season. Everyone picks their top 3 team preferences. (1 being the preferred, 2 next best etc.) Seats will then be distributed according to championship position in season 3. So, the defending champion @lemon gets first pick. Further down the order, if a driver whose first option is at a team which is full then we implement their 2nd option. If their 2nd option is taken we use their 3rd option.
Want to work with a specific teammate? You need to declare this alongside your team preferences. When your seat is designated, if there are 2 seats available at your first choice team, both drivers will take them. If there is only 1 available, the second choice team will be used, then third choice etc.
Also, new for this season will be a number of 100% endurance races. Please indicate the number of these races we should hold along with your preference for which track this should be held on. Please remember that this will take the place of the 50% race for that circuit – the calendar will remain at 20 races.
???- Yet to confirm participation.
1. Lemon (Herbert Lemon)
2. PowderFinger (Omorfos Kevin)
3. Ms20 (markstrub20)
4. Jonboy705
5. Lt Alfred (Lt Alfred) ???
6. MadDogMolloy (MadDogMolloy)
7. mrgrieves (y2jasok)
8. Darren Archer (D4Z4ARCH3R25)
9. Strunk27 (strunk27)
10. McWoblin (McWoblin) – ???
11. dazza1782 ???
12. infernojim (Inf3rn0j1m)
13. zsmokey
14. CSCOTTY (xODINS REVENGEx) ???
15. Power (Power l 7 l)
16. vitreouschain
17. Strongo83
To see which teams still have vacancies, please see our wiki page.10th April 2013, 22:16 at 10:16 pm #231174
@lemon @infernojim @ljkobrien @kvothe @mrgrieves, @McWoblin, @powderfinger, @strunk27 @ms20 @Sparky2315 @jonny705 @dazzaarcher @cscottyf195 @dazza1782 @roblo97 @zsmokey @power
Hi everyone! Could you confirm your participation in this new season ASAP please. This is so I can distribute teams and let newcomers see the spaces available.
Please be aware of the rule changes for this season. They can be seen at the top of the new wiki page. If you disagree with any of the changes please let me know!
One issue still remaining from the previous forum is the calendar order. In the coming days I will present an alternative calendar. Let me know what you think!
I'll keep the previous forum open for those you haven't voted in the Season 3 awards. I'll announce the results shortly.
Please put the 15 April in your calendar! This will be the date for the latest Sprint Race Championship! I think we should start at 19:00 BST so we can complete all 20 races!
Looking forward to seeing your team and circuit preferences! :-)
@power you'll be the first to choose from the seats remaining after the others have chosen theirs.11th April 2013, 2:03 at 2:03 am #231175PowerParticipant
Ok no problem, just mention me again when it is my turn thanks :)11th April 2013, 6:57 at 6:57 am #231176rob lomasParticipant
Please may I participate possibly from silverstone onwards
Choice 1 lotus
Choice 2 Ferrari
Choice 3 mercedes11th April 2013, 7:53 at 7:53 am #231177
@roblo97 awesome – remember (as previously mentioned) I'll put you on the reserve list now. When we get to Silverstone (or whichever race will be on 24 June with the alternative calendar), if any of your choices above are free you can have them. Think this is the fairest way of doing it.
@power that's fine. Make sure you join us this Monday for some of our crazy sprint races! As you will find out, we don't take them too seriously. Bring your headset!11th April 2013, 9:15 at 9:15 am #231178infernojimParticipant
Hey @MadDogMolloy, count me in.
My team preferences are thus:
Choice 1 – Sauber
Choice 2 – Williams
Choice 3 – Torro Rosso
Also, if at all possible I would like to continue my occasionally fruitful team partnership with @strunk27 for a third season.11th April 2013, 10:33 at 10:33 am #231179RyanMember
My team preferences are
Choice 1 – Ferrari
Choice 2 – Williams
Choice 3 – Mercedes
For 100% races I think we should do maybe Silverstone Japan Canada and maybe Germany?
Also I know I didn't touch on this with you but Y2J said a after a race a while ago that the randomness of the rain ruins the races sometimes, And I have to agree with him so I am wondering would It be possible to maybe say pick certain tracks to have Clear weather and others to be Rainy from the start? for example
I think a wet start on Singapore or Germany/Australia would be good
and dry start on Canada and maybe 1 or 2 other tracks with the rest being Dynamic.
I just feel this would make the races feel more enjoyable to race tell me what you think.11th April 2013, 10:39 at 10:39 am #231180ms20Participant
I'll stick with Mercedes again.
For the 100% races I vote for Spa, Canada and Brazil.11th April 2013, 12:09 at 12:09 pm #231181
@infernojim that will be fine. Do you want to give your 3 recommendations for the 100% races?
@zsmokey I think this is a really good idea! i reckon perhaps default to dry races for most and dynamic for the ones where it has rained in real life F1 over the past few years.
eg. Australia, Malaysia, China, Canada, Britain (of course!), Hungary, Belgium, Korea, Brazil?
Maybe Italy and Monaco?
If everyone likes this suggestion, I could include it in the list of new rule changes?11th April 2013, 12:24 at 12:24 pm #231183infernojimParticipant
Sorry, mised that.
100% races….
Canada11th April 2013, 16:55 at 4:55 pm #231184JonathanParticipant
1. McLaren – favourite team, favourite livery etc etc… but after a full season with them, if others want a go in the car then I'll have any really. Except Red Bull. Hate Red Bull. With a passion.
2. Lotus
3. Mercedes
I suppose the timing of the 100% races may depend on the calendar, as I can't imagine anyone wanting them too close to each other. For me the season finale, wherever it is, should be 100% distance. The street race fanatic in me is screaming Monaco and Singapore (could probably say the same on behalf of Herbie lol), but I'll spare a thought for those who aren't as keen and swap Singapore for Spa. I've managed 78 laps of Monaco before and can tell you now it is perhaps the most draining gaming experience I've ever done. But fun, nonetheless.
Just please don't vote China.
Something else to note: I'm pretty sure that when we run 50% distance, we start with 50% fuel. That was the case on 2010 and 2011 anyway. If it still applies now, we'll need to remember to practice with full fuel as it will make a massive difference to braking points. Imagine the carnage at most first corners last season, and then double it in 100% races because we don't know when to brake.
It is a shame that we are forced to consider running on always dry for most races, but I agree that the constant on and off with the rain each week tends to ruin the racing. I'll go with whatever we all decide. Running dynamic on the most logical circuits sounds the most sensible.11th April 2013, 20:30 at 8:30 pm #231185PowderfingerParticipant
My team preferences:
1. Williams
2. Force India
3. Lotus
Now I currently have the following problem. I moved into a new house and do not have a reliable nor fast internet connection. This is also the reason, why I have not been very active on the forum lately, and have not filled in the "season review".
I cannot see this changing by the beginning of next week, I will therefore have to sit out the first race, maybe even the second race.
My three choices for the 100% races:
Monaco (Monte Carlo)
Belgium (Spa)
Brazil (Interlagos)11th April 2013, 22:42 at 10:42 pm #231186mrgrievesParticipant
DazzaArcher & Y2jisaok Team Choices
1 Ferrari
2 Mclaren*
3 Williams*
We've only discussed these 3 teams so if we dont get Ferrari we'll clearly have to rethink this with the other two seats rightfully going to the higher drivers.
I couldnt be happier with running selected races in Clear conditions with Dynamic on the logical tracks, Cant wait to see what ya'll come up with.11th April 2013, 23:30 at 11:30 pm #231187VitreousChainParticipant
Hi, I'm new on here.
Gamer tag (VitreousChain06)
I would like to participate in this season so my teams.
1. Ferrari
2. Lotus
3. Sauber
If none of these are available then let me know what is.
Top 3 for 100% races
1. Brazil
2. Montreal
3. Spa11th April 2013, 23:33 at 11:33 pm #231188
Me and @zsmokey have decided to join forces! Here are our team choices:
1. Lotus
2. Ferrari
3. Williams
Circuit choices – think there should be 4. The ones I'm voting for are spa, Canada, japan
@mrgrieves and @dazzaarcher I will need each of your circuit choices for the 100% races!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.


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Susan Fiske on "Inclusive Leadership, Stereotyping and the Brain"
Posted by The Situationist Staff on June 28, 2011
From ColumbiaBusiness:
[Situationist Contributor] Susan Fiske of Princeton University discusses the psychology of stereotyping in her keynote address to Columbia Business School's research symposium, "Inclusive Leadership, Stereotyping and the Brain," co-sponsored by the Program on Social Intelligence and the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics. Professor Fiske is introduced by Professors Malia Mason and Bruce Kogut of Columbia Business School.
To learn more about this symposium, click here.
Related Situationist posts:
- Susan Fiske's New Book
- Susan Fiske Discusses her Work on Different Types of Prejudices
- "The Situation of Objectification,"
- "Women's Situational Bind,"
- "You Shouldn't Stereotype Stereotypes,"
- Perceptions of Income Distribution and Preferences for Redistribution,
- Psychology of Inequality
- The Inherited Situation of Racial Inequality
- "Even monkeys know when they're being treated unfairly,"
- "A Discussion about (In)Equality,"
- "The Interior Situational Reaction to Inequality,"
One Response to "Susan Fiske on "Inclusive Leadership, Stereotyping and the Brain""
July 20, 2011 at 12:03 am
[…] Susan Fiske on "Inclusive Leadership, Stereotyping and the Brain" […]


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Morning Minutes for Dec. 8
Word of the Day
epee \ey-pey, ep-ey\(noun) a rapier with a three-sided blade and a guard over the tip; the art or sport of fencing with an épée, points being made by touching any part of the opponent's body with the tip of the weapon.
— www.dictionary.com
Website of the Day
Read one in-depth article a day set to a different theme each week. The site focuses on people you don't hear about every day such as the rat hunters of New York.
Number to Know
25: Number of No. 1 singles John Lennon had on the U.S. hot 100 chart as a performer, writer or co-writer.
This Day in History
Dec. 8, 1980: John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman, a mentally unstable fan, in front of The Dakota.
Today's Featured Birthday
Hip hop artist Nicki Minaj (31)
Daily Quote
"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the '60s, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." – John Lennon


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There's plenty to do and see at LACMA this weekend, starting with a few brand new exhibitions: William Eggleston: Democratic Camera—Photographs and Video, 1961–2008, on view inside BCAM, includes roughly 200 photographs from Eggleston's celebrated career; on the same floor, Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964–1977 is the first comprehensive U.S. exhibition of this German artist who had an incredible impact on postwar abstract expressionism. Both shows open to the public on Sunday. But good news if you're a member: the exhibitions are on view now for Members-Only Preview Days. If you're not a member but you join today or tomorrow, you'll get right in to the shows. We have lots of Eggleston-related programming happening this weekend and next week—read on for more info.
Also on view now is an installation by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, just outside the Resnick Pavilion. The exhibition is part of VIA, a year-long, multi-site exhibition organized by LAND, featuring public works created by contemporary artists from Mexico. Margolles' installation of benches is the perfect place to have a seat if you're here on Halloween—the cement used to create the benches was mixed with a liquid that was previously used to clean corpses in a Mexican autopsy room.
Speaking of Halloween… I hope you bought your tickets for our annual Muse Costume Ball on Saturday night—because it is now completely sold out.
On the public programs front, tonight's free Jazz at LACMA performance comes courtesy the Harold Land Jr. Trio with guest vocalist Rita Edmond. Also tonight, another terrific double-feature as part of our 20th Anniversary Tribute to the Film Foundation. First up is the quintessential Hitchcock film, Shadow of a Doubt, followed by Fritz Lang's 1946 spy flick Cloak and Dagger.
On Saturday, photographer David LaChapelle and artist Josh Azzarella will be in conversation in the Bing Theater, including a screening of Azzarella's short film, Untitled #100 (Fantasia), which takes Michael Jackson's video for Thriller as its topic. The conversation is free—first come, first served.
On Sunday evening, should you wish to escape the trick-or-treaters and costume-clad pumpkin-smashers, our free Sundays Live concert series continues with a quartet of piano, bassoon, guitar, and clarinet performing works by Poulenc, Beethoven, and Mozart.
That's a lot to see and do in one weekend, but there's even more if you're a William Eggleston fan. On Sunday at 1:30, filmmaker Michael Almereyda will join us for a screening of his documentary, William Eggleston in the Real World, followed by a conversation between Almereyda, writer Lloyd Fonvielle, and LACMA's Eggleston curator, Edward Robinson.
Dipping into next week, you ought to mark your calendars for Tuesday night, when William Eggleston himself will be here to debut a new print published by LACMA on the occasion of the exhibition. Eggleston will join Edward Robinson in the Art Catalogues bookstore in the Ahmanson Building at 5 pm. Following that everyone will be encouraged to head up the street to the Cinefamily to see Eggleston's 1974 film Stranded in Canton. There are even more Eggleston-related programs in the days following—check the main exhibition page for more event details.


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Category:Books published by Magic Methods
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Another Night to Remember
April 25, 2012
One hundred years and eleven days ago, the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, taking 1,514 lives with it. This month, to commemorate (or compound) the disaster, Twentieth Century-Fox has re-released James Cameron's bloated epic Titanic in fake 3D. The Criterion Collection has gotten into the act by debuting Roy Ward Baker's A Night to Remember (1958), an earlier, more stately film about the famous sinking, on Blu-ray, with a bounty of new extras.
A Night to Remember was based on a best-selling non-fiction account of the Titanic's demise by Walter Lord – a book that was also staged, with great fanfare, as a live television drama in 1956, some two years before the Baker film was released. Given its recent habit of licensing live television segments as supplements for its discs (including The Fugitive Kind and 12 Angry Men), one might have expected Criterion to acquire the Kraft Television Theatre version of "A Night to Remember," too. For whatever reason, they didn't – but you can watch it on Youtube.
Semi-forgotten today, Kraft's "A Night to Remember" was remarked upon at the time as one of the (ahem) high-water marks of live television. Dramatically taut, the production was also newsworthy for its deliberate pushing of the physical and technical boundaries of the medium. "A Night to Remember" cost $125,000, slightly more than three times the budget of an average Kraft. One hundred and seven men and women in period costume filled the mock Titanic, and seventy-two of them had speaking parts. There were thirty-one sets, some built at skewed angles to simulate the increasing cant of the sinking vessel, others (seen only for a moment in the final broadcast) in a tank that could be filled with water up to the actors' waists.
The sets were so vast that the production was moved from NBC's Studio 8H, to both 8H and 8G, and finally out to the network's largest available space in exotic Brooklyn. Six cameras, instead of the usual three or four, captured the action. We know these stats because NBC trumpeted them in the press, in a successful campaign to position "A Night to Remember" as one of the year's most important television events. James Cameron was not the first storyteller tempted to see in the Titanic the makings of a superproduction.
Following an on-camera introduction by Claude Rains, an effectively stentorian and British choice to narrate the show, the first dialogue in "A Night to Remember" is spoken by the familiar actor Marcel Hillaire, here playing a French waiter in the Titanic's exclusive restaurant with all the hauteur he can muster. Although it also places barbed emphasis upon the cascading incompetence of officers and crew that delayed rescue – we're teleported over to the nearby SS Californian, where a radio operator misses the distress call because he can't be bothered to turn a crank – television's "A Night to Remember" finds its theme in the suddenly lethal class distinctions that informed the outcomes available to the Titanic's passengers. Hubris and privilege are the boogeymen in "A Night to Remember," not the iceberg that (thanks to the limitations of the medium) we barely see.
The show's director and co-writer, George Roy Hill, a Minneapolis-born Yalie who styled himself as a cantankerous Irishman, empathizes with the proletariat in steerage and sneers at the rich twits in first class in a way that resounds in the era of the one-percenter – even though the third-class passengers are sketched more roughly and enjoy less screen time than the swells on the upper decks. Mrs. Astor slices open a life vest to see what it's made of – cork; "Why, how clever!" – and another young lady expresses delight because she's never seen an iceberg. Hill practically seems to be opining: good, natural selection is finally catching up with these fools. Perhaps the most effective moment in "A Night to Remember" is the one in which J. Bruce Ismay, the head of the White Star Line, steps into a lifeboat even as he knows that women and children remain on the sinking ship. The glare of utter contempt that the crewman who lowers the raft fixes upon Ismay is unforgettable, and Hill does not even need a close-up to emphasize it.
"A Night to Remember" is a compendium of vignettes like those. It follows certain characters from start to finish, like the Caldicott-and-Charters pairing of Gracie and Smith (Larry Gates and Woodrow Parfrey, cast effectively against type), who meet their fates with stiff-upper-lip reserve. Other famous passengers, like Isidore Straus (Edgar Stehli), whose wife opts to stay on the ship rather than leave him behind, are glimpsed for only seconds. If the 1958 feature finally picks a central character out of Walter Lord's panoply – Second Officer Lightoller, a minor character here, becomes in Dave Kehr's words the film's "hero . . . an upright representative of the emerging middle class and managerial caste" – the shorter television staging resists fixing on any single figure as a spine; although it does hover occasionally around Thomas Andrews (Patrick Macnee, then unknown), the thirty-nine year-old "shipbuilding genius" who had a hand in designing the Titanic, and whose main function here is to deliver, sheepishly, the technical explanation as to why the ship will surely sink. (Macnee and Andrews were both Scots, so the actor attempted a brogue in rehearsals, delivering his key line as "The ship must go doon." Hill's reaction: "Less of the Irish, please.") [Author's note, 5/23/12: Much of the last sentence, which was sourced from Patrick Macnee's 1989 autobiography Blind in One Ear, is erroneous. See the comments section for more information.
Rains, whose dulcet and unmistakably British tones supply snippets of Titanic lore in a voiceover so dense that it is almost an audio book, becomes the vital structuring element of this decentralized narrative. "A Night to Remember" is a docudrama, but one of a specific sort that emphasized the panoramic impact of a particular historical incident. Studio One's "The Night America Trembled" (about the historic "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast), The Seven Lively Arts's searing "The Blast in Centralia No. 5," and Playhouse 90's "Seven Against the Wall" (on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre) all took the same basic approach. Already in its death throes, live television made a mini-genre out of this kind of pocket historical epic, the size of which attracted press attention and fostered, perhaps, the poignant illusion that the medium could compete on Hollywood's own terms with the industry that was about to bulldoze it.
If directors like Sidney Lumet or Paul Bogart, a consummate lover of actors who died this month, were content to work with material that was essentially stage-worthy and intimate, there was another class of live television director that tried to tug the primitive medium toward the art of the cinema. Franklin Schaffner and John Frankenheimer led this pack, with George Roy Hill following close behind; all three achieved a destiny as epic-scaled filmmakers that is difficult, on the surface, to reconcile with their origins in television. (At least until one recalls that Hill wasn't the only member of this daredevil trio to seek out the foolhardy challenge of filling a television studio with a large quantity of water: Schaffner nearly electrocuted the cast while sinking a submarine in Studio One's "Dry Run," and Frankenheimer built a huge water tank to simulate the flooding of the Mississippi River in Playhouse 90's "Old Man.") Inevitably, all three men were determined careerists – an ambition to work on a huge canvas seems inextricable from a large ego – and "A Night to Remember" plays as a very self-conscious calling card on the part of a young director eager to be noticed.
One of the least contestable auteurist entries in live television, "A Night to Remember" was not only directed but also co-written – with John Whedon, later a sitcom writer and also the grandfather of Joss Whedon – by Hill; and while Kraft at that time had a producer, Stanley Quinn, he was an ad agency lifer with few creative bona fides apart from Kraft. Quinn also took no screen credit on "A Night to Remember," leaving many published accounts to list Hill as the producer, perhaps not wholly inaccurately. Hill may also have exerted influence through a key personal relationship. When last we encountered George Roy Hill, he was seducing the underage star of one of his early features. During that time, and possibly as early as 1956, Hill was also having an extramarital affair with Marion Dougherty, who was the uncredited casting director of Kraft and therefore, without question, a key creative component in a live show boasting a telephone book-sized cast list.
A control-room director's dream, "A Night to Remember" supposedly featured over one hundred cues (that is, cuts) in its first act alone. The personality that Hill imposes upon it is an omniscient one: an unseen hand – whether it be that of God, George Roy Hill, or Claude Rains, clutching Lord's book and in a sense standing in for the author – directing our attention, rapidly, forcefully, toward a succession of brief moments on the surface of a vast event. Andrew Horton, the chief chronicler of Hill's career, finds "A Night to Remember" interesting mainly for the way in which it anticipates the complex editing schemes of later films like Slaughterhouse-Five. Indeed, the director's cutting is masterful. Early on, Hill introduces the characters in steerage with a fade from a violinist, entertaining the haughty diners in first class, to a bagpiper, leading an exuberant dance below decks. Near the end, when an immigrant family that has fought its way up from steerage to the top deck arrives just in time to watch the last lifeboat being lowered, Hill drops out the cacophonous sound, scoring the moment of dreadful realization with a second of total silence. Hill superimposes the dangling boat cable over the family's stunned faces. "A Night to Remember" is subtle at times, blunt at others – but amid the chaos of disaster, the tonal shifts make sense.
"A Night to Remember" enjoyed a rapturous reception. Every major critic, even the tough two titans, Jack Gould (of the New York Times) and John Crosby (of the Herald Tribune), approved. NBC took out a full-page ad in the Times to tout its a repeat of the kinescope on May 2, a rerun that, because of reuse payments due to the gargantuan cast, cost the network more than putting on a new play would have.
("A Night to Remember" was not restaged live, as some sources claim. And, incidentally, if you look in the wrong places you'll also find Hill deprived of his co-writing credit, or read that Hill won Emmys for writing and directing the show. Although he was nominated for both, and "A Night to Remember" for best dramatic program, the only Emmy win was for its live camerawork).
The live television dramas that tend to hold up best are the small, claustrophobic character pieces – the storied "kitchen sink" opuses. Adaptations of books and plays, or shows that give off a whiff of the "tradition of quality," are the most likely to seem stodgy and ancient. But, despite its unconcealed self-importance, "A Night to Remember" works both as a drama and, more vitally, as an action piece. It moves at a terrific pace and builds real suspense along the way. Only the ending seems somewhat crude. Hill wisely uses as little stock footage as possible (like the 1958 film, this version borrowed its Titanic exteriors from a 1943 German film that built some impressive miniatures), but that decision renders the climax necessarily brief. Hill tries for a pair of shock effects, neither of which really comes off – at least to the extent that we can observe today.
The show ends in the main stateroom, empty except for a steward and the shell-shocked designer Andrews. As the stewart flees, the entire set tips forward, toward the camera, and the sea sweeps away the steward and rushes toward the viewer – an effect achieved, none too convincingly, by shooting through a fishtank that was rapidly filled with frothy water. Just before that, allegedly, we see Andrews crushed (or decapitated, according to one account from the set) by a gigantic chandelier that falls from the stateroom ceiling. Hill staged the effect through a multi-camera sleight-of-hand, by cutting quickly from a close-up of Patrick Macnee to a long shot, from another angle, in which Andrews is represented by a dummy. Contemporary reviews record some shocked reactions to this graphic image. But, in the surviving kinescope, the effect is lost. The Andrews dummy is barely visible at the left edge of the frame, and one would never notice his "death" unless, as I did, one goes back for a second look with the knowledge of what's supposed to be there. On a first viewing of the extant "A Night to Remember," the final image of Andrews is now a stunned, guilt-ridden close-up of Macnee's face. Not a bad ending at all – but also a sobering reminder of how the poor positioning of a kinescope camera can rewrite television history.
8 Responses to "Another Night to Remember"
April 27, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Another fine piece brining to light an almost-forgotten show! I'd heard of the TV version of "A Night to Remember" (which is a spellbinding book, by the way – I read it first when I was 7, and the power never left me), but hadn't seen it until now.
A note on Lightoller – IIRC, he's a fairly impressive character in the book as well, moreso than in some of the other TItanic books I've read. He started out the voyage with his nose somewhat out of joint because he'd been bumped from First Officer to Second Officer (Murdoch, who was originally supposed to be Chief, had been bumped to First), and that might have played a role in his diffidence at first. In the book, Lord suggests that he stayed below in part so, because he wasn't on duty, they'd know where to find him when they needed him.
Hard to believe now, with the glut in Titanic movies, books and the like, but Lord's book is credited with reviving interest in the disaster. I don't think it had ever gone completely away, but he brought it out of the dusty history pages and back to the forefront of consciousness. He was a very accessible historian.
April 27, 2012 at 12:31 pm
That line, about Lightoller staying in his cabin so he's findable, is incorporated into his voiceover. One review that I read interpreted this as a dereliction of duty, perhaps because North flops on his bunk rather indolently in that scene; but I think it's probably a misreading. However you interpret Lightoller in the TV version, though, he definitely gets swallowed in the chaos. The most memorable figures in the ensemble are Andrews and Ismay and, to a lesser extent, the captain and Gracie & Clinch Smith (Gates and Parfrey).
May 21, 2012 at 2:04 pm
This is a good article, and your depth of knowledge of live American television is astounding. However, to quote, "Macnee and Andrews were both Scots" — I'm afraid you're wrong there. Macnee is frightfully English, born and bred, after all it's what he's based his career around. Andrews was actually from the County Down in Northern Ireland; typically of James Cameron's anti-British 'blockbuster', he was inaccurately portrayed as a to-be-sure, twinkly lovable Southern Oirish stereotype in that.


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In a Boston Globe article last month, Drake Bennett summarized some of the recent research suggesting "that we think not just with our brains, but with our bodies." The entire piece is well worth reading; we've excerpted a few highlights below.
* * *
The brain is often envisioned as something like a computer, and the body as its all-purpose tool. But a growing body of new research suggests that something more collaborative is going on — that we think not just with our brains, but with our bodies. A series of studies, the latest published in November, has shown that children can solve math problems better if they are told to use their hands while thinking. Another recent study suggested that stage actors remember their lines better when they are moving. And in one study published last year, subjects asked to move their eyes in a specific pattern while puzzling through a brainteaser were twice as likely to solve it.
The term most often used to describe this new model of mind is "embodied cognition," and its champions believe it will open up entire new avenues for understanding — and enhancing — the abilities of the human mind. Some educators see in it a new paradigm for teaching children, one that privileges movement and simulation over reading, writing, and reciting. Specialists in rehabilitative medicine could potentially use the emerging findings to help patients recover lost skills after a stroke or other brain injury. The greatest impact, however, has been in the field of neuroscience itself, where embodied cognition threatens age-old distinctions — not only between brain and body, but between perceiving and thinking, thinking and acting, even between reason and instinct — on which the traditional idea of the mind has been built.
"It's a revolutionary idea," says Shaun Gallagher, the director of the cognitive science program at the University of Central Florida. "In the embodied view, if you're going to explain cognition it's not enough just to look inside the brain. In any particular instance, what's going on inside the brain in large part may depend on what's going on in the body as a whole, and how that body is situated in its environment."
* * *
. . . [T]oday, neuroscientists, linguists, and philosophers are making much bolder claims. A few argue that human characteristics like empathy, or concepts like time and space, or even the deep structure of language and some of the most profound principles of mathematics, can ultimately be traced to the idiosyncrasies of the human body. If we didn't walk upright, for example, or weren't warm-blooded, they argue, we might understand these concepts totally differently. The experience of having a body, they argue, is intimately tied to our intelligence.
* * *
Embodied cognition upends several centuries of thinking about thinking.
* * *
In the 1980s, . . . a group of scholars began to contest this approach. Fueled in part by broad disappointment with artificial-intelligence research, they argued that human beings don't really process information the way computers do, by manipulating abstract symbols using formal rules. In 1995, a major biological discovery brought even more enthusiasm to the field. Scientists in Italy discovered "mirror neurons" that respond when we see someone else performing an action — or even when we hear an action described – as if we ourselves were performing the action. By simultaneously playing a role in both acting and thinking, mirror neurons suggested that the two might not be so separate after all.
"You were seeing the same system, namely the motor system, playing a role in communication and cognition," says Arthur Glenberg, a professor of psychology and head of the embodied cognition laboratory at Arizona State University.
This realization has driven much of the recent work looking at how moving and thinking inform and interfere with each other. For example, a pair of studies published in 2006 by Sian Beilock, now an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, and Lauren Holt, one of her former students, examined how people who were good at certain physical activities thought about those activities.
In one study, Beilock and Holt had college hockey players, along with a non-hockey-player control group, read a sentence, sometimes hockey-related, sometimes not. Then the subjects would be shown a picture and asked if it corresponded with the sentence. Hockey players and non-hockey players alike almost invariably answered correctly, but on the hockey-related sentences the response times of the hockey players were significantly faster than the nonplayers. . . . According to Beilock, the difference in response time wasn't a matter of knowledge – after all, all of the subjects in the study got the vast majority of the questions right. What it suggested, Beilock argues, is that the athletes' greater store of appropriate physical experiences served as a sort of mental shortcut.
"People with different types of motor experiences think in different ways," she argues.
These sorts of results aren't simply limited to thinking about sports, or other highly physical activities. A 2003 study by Michael Spivey, a psychology professor at Cornell, and his student Elizabeth Grant, found that people who were given a tricky spatial relations brainteaser exhibited a distinctive and unconscious pattern of eye movements just before they arrived at the answer. The subjects seemed to unconsciously work through the problem by enacting possible solutions with their gaze.
* * *
Other studies have looked at non-spatial problems and at memory. Work led by Susan Goldin-Meadow, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, has found that children given arithmetic problems that normally would be too difficult for them are more likely to get the right answer if they're told to gesture while thinking. . . .
The body, it appears, can subtly shape people's preferences. A study led by John Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, found that subjects (all non-Chinese speakers) shown a series of Chinese ideographs while either pushing down or pulling up on a table in front of them will say they prefer the ideographs they saw when pulling upward over the ones they saw while pushing downward. Work by Beilock and Holt found that expert typists, when shown pairs of two-letter combinations and told to pick their favorite, tend to pick the pairs that are easier to type – without being able to explain why they did so.
What's particularly interesting to neuroscientists is the role that movement seems to play even in abstract thinking. Glenberg has done multiple studies looking at the effect of arm movements on language comprehension. In Glenberg's work, subjects were asked to determine whether a string of words on a computer screen made sense. To answer they had to reach toward themselves or away from themselves to press a button.
What Glenberg has found is that subjects are quicker to answer correctly if the motion in the sentence matches the motion they must make to respond. If the sentence is, for example, "Andy delivered the pizza to you," the subject is quicker to discern the meaning of the sentence if he has to reach toward himself to respond than if he has to reach away. The results are the same if the sentence doesn't describe physical movement at all, but more metaphorical interactions, such as "Liz told you the story," or "Anne delegates the responsibilities to you."
The implication, Glenberg argues, is that "we are really understanding this language, even when it's more abstract, in terms of bodily action."
* * *
"I think these findings are really fantastic and it's clear that there's a lot of connection between mind and body," says Arthur Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas. He remains skeptical, though, that the roots of higher cognition will be found in something as basic as the way we walk or move our eyes or arms.
"Any time there's a fad in science there's a tendency to say, 'It's all because of this,"' Markman says. "But the thing in psychology is that it's not all anything, otherwise we'd be done figuring it out already."
* * *
To read the entire article, click here. To read related Situationist posts, go to "A Closer Look at Interior Situation," "The Unconscious Situation of our Consciousness – Part IV," "The Body Has a Mind of its Own," and "Brainicize: The Situational Malleability of our Brains."


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To make this quilt you will need:
1 Strawberry Fields jelly roll
3 yards cream fabric for background (20167 13) {this is one of the fabrics in the line}
2/3 yard red polka dot for binding (20166 21)
3 3/4 yards for backing (20160 15)
All seam allowances are 1/4″ throughout.
1. Cut 9 strips 2 1/2″ x width of fabric from the binding fabric. Set 8 aside for the binding. The one remaining strip will be used for the quilt blocks.
2. Cut 43 strips 2 1/2″ x width of fabric from the background fabric. (There is only 1/2″ extra from this length, so cut carefully!)
3. Remove the one cream strip from the jelly roll and set aside to use for a background strip. Substitute in the extra binding strip in it's place.
4. Pair the jelly roll strips with the background strips. Sew together in pairs. Iron seams open.
***Please note, the blocks are a mirror image of each other.
12. At this point, if you want a lap quilt that measures 64″ x 80″, you could baste, quilt and bind as desired. But I wanted to use more of my fabric, so I added a bit to the length and made this quilt a twin size. Take background strips and piece them together to make a strip 2 1/2″ x 65″. Make 2.
18. Sew together 17 of the 4 1/2″ segments, side to side. This will form a strip of coins to add in the middle of the quilt back. This serves two purposes…it uses extra pieces from the quilt top, and it also breaks up the repeat of the fabric. This way you don't have to worry about matching up the pattern when sewing the seam. Piece the backing using the coin strip in the middle with two large panels on either side. Press the seams well.
One twin sized quilt that measures 64″ x 88″.
Amanda Jean
{Crazy Mom Quilts}


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I'm French. I'm American. I'm a 30-something vegan punk-rocker, part-academic, part-athlete, avid runner, yogini and neophite chef. I live in France with Monsieur Fish and Guppy.
In the past couple of years I have developed an obsession with all that is fabric related, though I was never into art, sewing or crafts as a child. I am a former classically-trained dancer, and dabbled quite a bit in writing (fiction, free-lance and editing) and music, so I feel like this new thrist for creation is a natural extension of my creative side.
I'm still very much a novice seamstress, and I'm itching to learn to knit and crochet like mad (anyone in the Paris area who would like to teach me?). I'm also very interested in print making, though I still haven't taken the plunge.
Have a burning question or want to tell me how cool you think my blog is? (Ha!) Drop me a line at fishbowlmusings (at) gmail (dot) com or follow me on Twitter I'm TheShellyfish .


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Italy's Vincenzo Nibali wins Tour de France
PARIS (AP) — Vincenzo Nibali put his lungs and legs to work one last time, marching up to the winner's podium of the Tour de France and sighing deeply before the Italian anthem echoed over the Champs-Elysees.
Chants of "Vin-cen-zo!" rang across the famed avenue for the Sicilian, who dominated the race nearly from the start three weeks ago and on Sunday became the first Italian to win cycling's greatest race since Marco Pantani in 1998.
Marcel Kittel of Germany won Stage 21 in a sprint, his fourth victory this year. Nibali cruised in 24 seconds later, easily retaining a lead of more than seven minutes on his closest rival. He received pats on the back, kissed his wife and infant daughter and was mobbed by cameras.
"Now that I find myself on the highest step on the Champs-Elysees podium, it's more beautiful than I ever imagined," Nibali, the Arc de Triomphe behind him, told the crowd. "I've never been this moved in all my life."
Nibali, likened by some as the emperor of the pack, conquered where others did not: notably Chris Froome of Britain, the 2013 Tour winner, and two-time champion Alberto Contador of Spain. Both crashed out with injuries before the halfway mark.
As if mountain climbs, bone-jarring cobblestones, crashes and rain-splattered rides weren't enough, Nibali faced the scrutiny that comes with the yellow jersey in a sport long damaged by drugs.
Nibali, who calls himself "a flag-bearer of anti-doping," noted that his success came through pinpoint focus on this race as the season began and opportunistic attacks in which he was able to nibble seconds on his rivals. There were no eye-popping performances, as was the case when doping was so prevalent.
The Astana team leader is only the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours — France, Italy and Spain. His win comes 16 years after Pantani, a flamboyant rider, died from a drug overdose.
Nibali won four stages — a feat not equaled by a Tour winner since Lance Armstrong won five a decade ago. The Italian wore the yellow jersey for all but two stages since Stage 1. His 7-minute, 37-second margin over runner-up Jean-Christophe Peraud equals that of Armstrong over Swiss rider Alex Zulle in 1999 — a result nullified because of doping. Before that, the biggest margin was that of Germany's Jan Ullrich: He beat Richard Virenque by just more than nine minutes in 1997.
In one of the subplots of this race, Peraud and third-placed Thibaut Pinot became the first Frenchmen to reach the Tour podium since Virenque in that year — a fact not lost on many homegrown fans. Pinot was 8:15 behind.
Armstrong, Ullrich and Virenque were caught in nearly a generation of doping scandals. Armstrong, in cycling's biggest scandal, admitted to doping and was stripped of his record seven Tour titles.
Nibali and many others in the peloton say that era is past. But his own victories in the 2010 Vuelta and the Italian Giro last year were tarnished by doping involving other riders. Cycling's governing body has made great efforts to halt drug use, but few cycling experts believe the pack is fully clean.
Authorities in Italy and France have been among the most aggressive in cracking down on doping, and the victory of an Italian, followed by two Frenchmen, could be a sign the peloton is getting cleaner.
Some suggested that Nibali was just the best among the riders still in this Tour. Colombia's Nairo Quintana, who won the Giro d'Italia in May, didn't ride. Bradley Wiggins, the 2012 Tour winner, was passed over so his Sky Team could focus on Froome. Then Froome and Contador pulled out.
But even before they left, Nibali had a two-second lead on them by winning Stage 2. Then, in Stage 5 after Froome crashed out, the Italian excelled on cobblestone patches that slowed Contador, who lost more than 2 1/2 minutes to Nibali. The Spaniard felt compelled to attack.
On a downhill in Stage 10, Contador fractured his shin. But Nibali — known as "The Shark of the Strait" in a nod to the waterway near his hometown of Messina, Sicily, and his attacking style — didn't stop there.
He went on to win that stage, up to the super steep La Planche des Belles Filles. It was the first of three stages with uphill finishes that he won, adding one in the Alps and another in the Pyrenees — each time dealing small but cumulatively significant blows to contenders.
This 101st Tour began in Yorkshire, England, and guided riders over 3,664 kilometers (2,277 miles), with high-mountain rides in the Vosges, Alps and Pyrenees.
Tejay van Garderen, the top U.S. rider, said on Twitter this was the hardest of his four Tours. He finished fifth overall, 11:24 behind Nibali, after climbing a spot in Saturday's time trial.
Nibali said the Tour layout was "almost made to measure for me." He also noted that crashes are part of the race, and he's been such a victim in the past.
As he stepped down from the podium, Nibali hurled the winner's bouquet into the crowd, and a fan handed him an inflatable shark. Many waved French and Italian flags.
"I think it's very important for cycling in Italy because at the moment there isn't a lot of trust," said spectator Massimo Solaroli, a 47-year-old physical education teacher from the Italian town of Imola. "We don't believe an Italian champion can win an important race without doping."
But Nibali, he added, gives reason for hope.
"I think he can be a good champion for all the people, not only for Italian people, because he's very humble," he said.


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Review: New tricks can't rescue 'Expendables 3'
In its third incarnation, "The Expendables" has become, well, expendable.
Despite some ruthless new tactics, there's no saving "The Expendables 3," the overpopulated third outing of Sylvester Stallone's all-star action ensemble.
Perhaps recognizing its own mortality, "Expendables 3" goes for a kitchen-sink approach. There's the injection of AARP-eligible action stars like Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford into the already bursting-at-the-seams cast, as well the addition of some junior Expendables. Those extra bodies don't add any oomph to the stiff dialogue or predictable plot.
After liberating a long-lost Expendables comrade (Snipes) and watching another (Terry Crews) go down in a battle with Gibson's maniacal arms dealer, the third installment finds team leader Barney (a more puffy yet still personable Stallone) booting his pals (Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture) in favor of younger, prettier models.
Barney plods across North America with a guerrilla recruiter (Kelsey Grammer) to assemble the Expendables 2.0: an angst-filled soldier (Kellan Lutz), a lippy hacker (Glen Powell), a cocky weapons guru (Victor Ortiz) and a lady bouncer (mixed-martial artist Ronda Rousey), who is unfortunately reminded every time she's on screen that — yeah, bro — she's female.
The unmemorable Millennials are kidnapped almost as quickly as they're introduced. Obviously, it's up to the old-timers to save the day. It doesn't really matter how or why they do it though. Ultimately, it feels like every one other than series shepherd Stallone is merely here to be another face on the crowded 16-person poster, not to actually play any sort of character.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Antonio Banderas provide the film's comic relief. Banderas does so intentionally as a motor-mouthed, out-of-work assassin who really wants to be on the team, while Schwarzenegger's return as Expendables associate Trench is just laughably bad. Of course, acting isn't why anyone goes to one of these "Expendables" movies.
It's the explosions, fights and chases featuring the likes of Terminator and Rambo!
Yes, the shoot-'em-up action from director Patrick Hughes and cinematographer Peter Menzies Jr. is as tight as a "Call of Duty" match-up, especially the brainless, bloodless climatic battle through an abandoned Eastern European hotel complex. However, the film's sporadic set pieces simply aren't captivating enough to forgive all the movie's other faults.
It's frustrating because the cast and crew are definitely old enough to know better.
"The Expendables 3," a Lionsgate release, is rated PG-13 for language and violence including intense sustained gun battles and fight scenes. Running time: 126 minutes. One star out of four.


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Morning Minutes Dec. 4
Staff Writer
The McDonough County Voice
Word of the Day
indubitable \in·du·bi·ta·ble\(adjective) that cannot be doubted; patently evident or certain; unquestionable. — www.dictionary.com
Website of the Day
Sharing is caring on this social news site that brings attention to content that's inspirational and shareable.
Number to Know
17: The number of Grammy Awards won by Jay-Z.
This Day in History
Dec. 4, 1956: The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studios for the first and last time.
Today's Featured Birthday
Rapper, record producer and entrepreneur Jay-Z (44)
Daily Quote
"Ambition is a dream with a V-8 engine." — Elvis Presley


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Posts Tagged 'AGU 2012'
Join Many Others and Add Climate Scientists to Your Holiday Gift Giving
Please consider adding climate scientists to your holiday gift-giving by making a tax-deductible donation to the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF). Your gift will help CSLDF to continue to educate researchers about their legal rights and responsibilities on issues surrounding their work; serve as a clearinghouse for information related to legal actions taken against scientists; and to recruit and assist lawyers representing these scientists, while also defraying legal fees scientists may incur.
Here is what several noted climate scientists have said about CSLDF:
As a scientist who is on the front lines in the battle to communicate the reality and implications of climate change to the public, I am greatly indebted to the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF). Not only have they helped me in my own legal battles to defend myself from legal attacks by fossil fuel industry front groups, but through their webinars, AGU legal workshops, and greater outreach and communication efforts, they have literally assisted the entire scientific community in its efforts to defend itself from dishonest attacks by vested interests. It is essential that the CSLDF continue to receive the support necessary to continue its work. – Dr. Michael E. Mann, Professor of Meteorology, Director, of Earth System Science Center at The Pennsylvania State University
When I had my emails FOIAed, Scott Mandia was the first person I contacted for advice. Through the CSLDF, he provided advice, support, as well as a network of people to talk to. It would be impossible for me to overstate how grateful I am that Scott and the CSLDF were there. – Dr. Andrew Dessler, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University
CSLDF provided me with information and resources that proved invaluable in dealing with requests for access to my emails under Freedom of Information Act that are rapidly becoming the norm for anyone in the climate science community. I recommend their workshops and webinars to any of my colleagues who are involved in public outreach on climate change. – Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Associate Professor, Director of Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University
Thanks for CSLDFs efforts to educate scientists on legal matters, which are of great value. – Dr. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University
Kit was extremely helpful. She answered and explored with me my particular questions, and also helped me develop a much wider view of the overall situation facing climate scientists in terms of how legal issues and defense interact with attempts to discredit climate science. I was glad to be able to talk to an attorney who deeply cared about the integrity of the science and helping individual scientists. I am very grateful to the CSLDF for arranging for these sessions. – Anonymous Scientist from One-on-One Availability with an Attorney at AGU
In addition to directly assisting individual scientists in need, this past year CSLDF coordinated with American Geophysical Union (AGU) to offer three legal education webinars leading up to the AGU 2012 Fall Meeting. At this year's 2012 Fall Meeting, CSLDF coordinated with AGU to offer three legal education workshops (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), one-on-one availability with an attorney on four separate days, and an exhibit hall booth where information about the CSLDF mission was provided to scientists over a four day period.
Please consider supporting Climate Science Legal Defense Fund so that we may expand our legal education efforts thus protecting the scientific endeavor.
Thank you,
Scott Mandia & Joshua Wolfe, co-founders and co-managers of Climate Science Legal Defense Fund


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Union of Jewish Students
We are the voice of over 8,500 Jewish students, spanning 60 Jewish Societies (J-Socs) on campuses across the UK and Ireland. We are traditional, progressive, cultural and spiritual; we come from the left, centre and right and can be found across religious and political spectrums.
Together we create and deliver powerful campaigns; fighting prejudice, advancing inclusion, and inspiring education and action on the issues that matter to us.


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Today's Music: Lionize – Surrender
Days Til Spring: 44
I've danced naked on bars, I've made naked snow angels outside them. Here is the final installment of my "naked in bars" opus.
Above my right nipple is a small scar that has long since healed. But my memories of it are vivid, and I still rub at it absentmindedly from time to time.
Maybe a year or two after the first naked bar dance, my dart partner, The Terror, had gotten engaged to a wonderful woman from the bar we hung out in. He and the boys were out for his bachelor party, getting all sorts of drunk in all sorts of places. I was at the bar, drinking lightly, with a completely different group of friends from college.
And then worlds collided.
The Terror and the boys came back. Even though the bar (unlike last time) was full, space was made for them at the corner. Greetings were exchanged, backs were slapped, drinks were ordered.
"Gimme a Jameson", shouted the Terror. "I can drink that smoother than anything!" six sets of eyes turned to me, all of us having been there the last time someone said that.
I smiled, and considered it a wedding gift.
"I can drink that smoother than you." I said. Bigger grins all around.
The shots get set up, the shots get knocked down.
And I yell "Clear the bar!!!"
Now, I have no doubt that this time around, I drank it smoother than him. I'm not saying he dribbled all over himself, because that would be rude. But he was getting married, so give him a memorable send off.
The regulars started laughing and moved away towards the back wall. The new folk were looking on in disbelief as the story was explained to them, and they moved against the wall.
"Hey Otto!" I called to the bartender as I slipped out of my shirt and started undoing my belt (with a little wiggle. You know, for the crowd). "How about a slide this time around?"
Otto laughed and sprayed down the bar below the taps with seltzer. *Remember that the taps are the demarcation point. It'll come up again.*
While Otto finished hosing down the bar, I got out of the rest of my clothes, making it as sexy as only a 170lb six-footer in need of a shave and a haircut can.
At this point, the people who've figured out what's going on are laughing and clapping, while the rest are looking very very puzzled, and perhaps a bit aghast.
So naked me goes back by the dartboard, and, clad only in a worn pair of boat shoes, bellows "CLEAR THE BAR!!!" one last time before sprinting towards the rounded corner of the bar. I time my launch perfectly, feet leaving the ground as my fingers curl around the top of the bullnose edge of the bar and my arms drag me over it, adding to my momentum.
My stomach hits the bar in a splash of seltzer, and, with a slightly arched back to reduce drag, I zip down the bar, a carbonated rooster tail of spray marking my passage, as Otto sprays me in more seltzer (or possibly Diet Coke) as I slid by.
I'm in the zone! Only three other people have done the naked bar slide in this particular place, and I've already gone further than any of them! Why, I've almost made it as far as- Crap!
The taps!
(Remember those?)
They're set at the middle of the bar, and jut out over halfway into the bar. I suddenly realize that maybe I had a tad too much momentum. And the bar is soaked, so no traction there.
So, like a latter day Indiana Jones avoiding a sword laden trap, I roll onto my side and watch as the taps near. I begin to slow down, my body contorted (and soaked) as speed bleeds off, decelerating to the point where, when I reach the tap, I'm going just fast enough…to scratch my chest…from below (???) to the center…of my nipple.
And the place goes wild!
I've seen plenty of stupid bar stunts, and been involved in plenty myself, but truly, this was an appreciative crowd.
So finally, I get off the bar and dry myself off. Several bar napkins staunch the flow of nipple blood. I make my way back to the end of the bar, past the smiling faces, the shocked faces, and the faces that have no idea what they've just seen, and lean against the bar near The Terror. We order another round (tequila this time for me) and toast. he leans over.
"I think you drank the Jameson smoother than me this time."
"Nah. Congratulations, John. Have a happy marriage."


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Conference titles for Kewanee, Galva
Kewanee 49, Bureau Valley 44
The Boilers completed a perfect run through the Three Rivers Conference by holding off the Storm on Senior Night at Brockman Gym.
The Storm built an early 8-2 lead and scored the last seven points of the opening quarter for a 16-10 advantage.
The Boilers closed the second quarter with a 7-1 surge to knot the game 19-all at halftime.
A 3-pointer by Ryan Hicks gave Kewanee a 34-32 edge going into the final eight minutes.
Freshman Donovan Oliver came up big in the fourth quarter for the Boilers, scoring 10 points to preserve the win.
Dalton Nuding led the Boilers with 14 points, followed by Oliver with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Parker Neuhalfen paced the Storm with 15 points and Tommy Johnston added 10 points.
Kewanee finishes the regular season 21-4 and 14-0 in conference, while BV checks out at 18-12 and 7-7.
Kewanee's sophomore team closed the season with a 52-40 win over the Storm.
Kentrel Welcome led the Riveters with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Alan Vervynck and Cody Goforth added 10 points each, and Goforth dished five assists.
Josh Mead led BV with 14 points, followed by Blake Balensiefen with 10. Payton Shipp grabbed 10 boards for the Storm.
The Riveters finish 16-9 overall and 12-2 in conference.
Galva 67, West Prairie 35
The Wildcats clinched back-to-back Lincoln Trail Conference regular-season titles with Tuesday night's home win over the Cyclones.
Dexter Ingels led the Wildcats with 22 points. David Jeffries added 17 and Rhett Hoxworth chipped in with 11.
The Wildcats, now 21-4 overall and 9-0 in the LTC, close the regular season on the road Friday night at United.
West Prairie won the fresh-soph opener 50-30.
Wethersfield 71, United 47
The Flying Geese snapped their three-game skid with Tuesday night's home win over the Red Storm.
The win lifts Wethersfield to 22-6 overall and 7-2 in the Lincoln Trail.
The Geese close the regular season at home Friday night against co-op partner Annawan.
Also Tuesday night...
In the Three Rivers Conference, Sterling Newman defeated Morrison 70-40. The Comets finish TRAC-9 play at 13-1, their lone loss coming to Kewanee.
In the Lincoln Trail Conference, finals from ROWVA at Stark County and Ridgewood at Mercer County were unavailable at press time. ... West Central defeated Princeville 72-63.